It also makes Tate the elder statesman of Seattle's receiver corp, something he acknowledged when he joined "Bob and Groz" on 710 ESPN Seattle earlier this week.

"Obviously, I hate to lose one of my best friends and a leader in our room and on this team, but that just means that I'm the next oldest guy," said the 25-year-old Tate, who's in his fourth season. "It's time for me to step up, take my game to another level. I'm expecting my load to be more, especially until Percy comes back, and I'm ready for it."

Bob Stelton and Dave Grosby share additional thoughts on what Rice's injury means for Tate in the video above.